The Bounty Trilogy

This is the story of the mutiny on the Bounty and the events that followed. I read this Wyeth illustrated edition of the book when I was in high school and it set off years of South Sea island fantasies! I still have the fantasies, and now I have the book again. It is of course a fictionalized account. I have read a few other, more factual accounts of the event, but the Nordhoff and Hall version still stands up for the most part. The character Roger Byam is an invention. Bligh was not the evil sadist he is portrayed. And Fletcher Christian was no hero, though he does seem to have been cast as the main antagonist by members of another officer's family back in England. It's a complex story and this version seems to have got most of it right. Realize you're reading a fictionalized version of the facts and enjoy the book as it is. Beautifully illustrated by NC Wyeth. It's a classic edition of a classic story.

This is one of the most beautifully-written adventure books ever. I loved it when I was a kid and I loved it just as much reading it 50 years later. The mutiny on The Bounty is one of those seemingly obscure events in history, like the sinking of the Titanic or the destruction of Pompeii, that has gripped the imagination of the world and become iconic. It is a tale of paradise gained followed by a descent into hell. All the fantasies of a warm, happy, primitive life of ease as opposed to a reality of hatred and oppression play themselves out in this wonderful trilogy. Lovely, unpretentious prose makes this book a compelling read.

This is one of the greatest seafaring stories ever told--the ill-fated voyage of His Majesty's armed transport Bounty . . . under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh.The three novels which comprise this trilogy vividly illuminate the tragic collision of two implacable personalities--William Bligh and Fletcher Christian. Both men were unquestionably capable, courageous, and born leaders. Mr. Bligh ruled by intimidation; Mr. Christian by persuasion. Arguably, it's a parable of two ages, two incompatible social attitudes--the stifling aristocracy of the 18th century, and the burgeoning democracy of the 19th--smashing head-on aboard a cramped vessel in the middle of the Pacific.Briefly, the three novels:Mutiny On The Bounty. As seen through the eyes of a young, inexperienced midshipman, on his first voyage, witnessing the outlandish temper tantrums of a captain seemingly bent on inciting a riot--all but daring his men to strike back. Juxtaposed against this reign of terror is the heavenly beauty of the South Pacific and the island of Tahiti, where a simple society lives in quiet, natural splendor, without the bonds of an orderly "civilization." But of course the British are indomitable.Men Against The Sea. What becomes of William Bligh after he and 18 loyal men are set adrift on the morning of the mutiny? Nothing short of the greatest feat of navigation and survival known to man. For more than forty days and nights, Bligh's fathomless nastiness is channeled into battling starvation, thirst, scalding heat, horrific storms, and hopelessness--aboard an open boat so overcrowded that one could never be free of the touch of one's fellow passengers--nay, not one man was able to lay down with his legs stretched out for even a minute. Not to mention, any island they came upon, offering fresh fruit and water, was peopled by savages who liked nothing better than to bash white men's brains out with a club. But Bligh prevailed.Pitcairn's Island. And what becomes of Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers after Bligh is set adrift? Wracked with guilt for his crime--both against Bligh and his cohorts for condemning them to a fugitive's life--Christian struggles to find a home for his men among the still-uncharted islands of the Pacific. He ultimately discovers the uninhabited Pitcairn's Island, and all hands agree to settle there. At first, the mutineers and their Tahitian wives and friends create a harmonious society upon this beautiful isle. But too soon prejudice and avarice take root, and their Garden of Eden spirals down into a veritable Hell. Only as they reach the point of extinction do the inhabitants reign in their wantonness, and work together as a whole, and actually do create a new Eden of mutual respect and love . . . but only after an appalling loss of life.I unreservedly recommend this book.

Five stars except for my one prejudice.I have to admit that I have an aversion to historical novels. To me a book either needs to be a non-fiction work, in which case the author should research and write a factual account, or it needs to be fiction, in which case, anything goes. The authors explain in the preface: “The authors chose as the narrator of the mutiny part of the tale a fictitious character, Roger Byam, who tells it as an old man, after his retirement from the Navy. Byam had his actual counterpart in the person of Peter Heywood, whose name was, for this reason, omitted from the roster of the Bounty’: company. Midshipman Byam’s experience follows closely that of Midshipman Heywood. With the license of historical novelists, the authors based the career of Byam upon that of Heywood, but in depicting it they did not, of course, follow the latter in every detail. In the essentials, relating to the mutiny and its aftermath, they have adhered to the facts preserved in the records of the  British Admiralty.” After reading book and looking at a couple of other sources, I believe this to be an accurate description.If you enjoy historical novels, I unreservedly give the book five stars, plus. It is a great story and a history lesson. There are a couple of things that I had trouble with.In a few parts of the book, the dialog takes the form of what seemed to me to be semi-piratical talking, which I guess was prevalent aboard ships in the seventeen hundreds. For example: “Ye’re nae dowff as ye look! Aye..there’s summit in that.” Because the authors were of British background, I’m guessing that the target readers were primarily British and it would make more sense to them, though for me it slowed the reading down while I tried to interpret the meaning.There were also numerous nautical terms that I needed to look up so that I could picture what was happening during key incidents. I think the authors must also have had experience in His Majesty’s Navy, or their fathers, or grandfathers, or knew a great deal about sailing ships, or with a great attention to detail, lifted the terms from log books in their research. For example: Cable length, Grapnel, Halyard, Gaffs Log Chip, Hove, Abaft, and Stokes. While this lent an air of authenticity to the story, again it slowed the reading while I looked up the terms or tried to determine what it was from the context.Where the authors really shine is in their extensive and beautifully written prose. The dialog in the book is largely made up and completely plausible. The actions of the crew, the prisoners, and the islanders is written in a way that lends believable credence to the events that happened. The dialog reveals the struggles the men had and how they worked them out - for good and ill. The book beautifully shows the hardships of sea life and the gentle nature of the Tahitians. There is one of the most seductive passages I’ve ever read between one of the crew and a Tahitian girl.There are those who have taken issue, particularly with the movie versions of the mutiny. Among those are the great, great, great, grandson of Captain Bligh and in Caroline Alexander’s 2004 book. Their conclusion is that Bligh was a fair disciplinarian and the mutineers a group of evil-doers. Part of their evidence is the murders and drunkenness that befell the mutineers on Pitcairn Island. I haven’t researched deeply into the mutiny, but there are a few things that I know: First, the punishment for mutiny was well known by everyone on board ships. That punishment was death by hanging. The mutineers forced Bligh and eighteen other men into a launch and cast them off hundreds of miles from land. Several of the remaining crew who at least had neutral feelings were put off on Tahiti, believing they would not be found guilty of mutiny. They were picked up later and sent back to England. Three of them were found guilty and hanged. The escaped mutineers also had the charge of piracy for stealing the HMS Bounty. It seems to me that with the knowledge they would have probably been caught and hung, there must have been some important reasons why they mutinied.Second, there was a profound culture clash on Pitcairn Island. A few of the mutineers believed the Tahitians were of a savage race. On the island they treated them like slaves. In a key incident, Fletcher Christiana acquiesced to the white men’s demand that the island be divided between only them, excluding the Tahitians. Since the natives believe that land belongs to everyone and that they would henceforth be treated as slave’s, violence was the predictable result.Third, the construction of an alcohol still to make a kind of brandy on the island caused drunkenness, abuse, and devastating consequences. This Illustrates what I believe continues to be one of the great scourges of the world.Third, what was available for evidence was the logs and testimony of Captain Bligh. Not wanting to be hanged, the remaining crew who testified at the trial had to be reluctant to sympathize with the mutineers. In that case, the testimony would tend to exonerate Bligh of crew maltreatment.

A wonderful book

TRUELY EXCELLENT

Excellent reading

Best one

Very interesting and non stop